Ultimate Teen Titans: Every New Day
by Whenntooda
Summary: UTT Episode Five. What do the Teen Titans do by themselves? This collection of short tales will tell you. Artwork courtesy of deviantART.
1. Starfire

****And heeeeeeere's the next Teen Titan story! I just messed around with random crap and here it is! I'll be publishing this one as I write, it's very short. Oh yeah, and every new section that is divided by the dividing line was been emboldened for the first sentence. This is a tracker for me so I know where to put it.

**Ultimate Teen Titans  
****Every New Day**

**Chapter I**

**Starfire**

It was not a normal day for the alien girl named Starfire.

Robin, her Robin, her friend who was more than a friend, had "broken up" with her. They had been dating for six Earth months when he had finally told her that they couldn't be seeing each other like that. It had broken her heart, as it did every time she thought about it.

On top of everything, her friend Raven was happily in a relationship with their new teammate, Spider-Man. It almost didn't seem fair.

Robin, or Nightwing, as he now liked to be called, had lost his mentor and friend a week ago. Apart from talking with Spider-Man, he hadn't interacted with any of the other Titans. Star felt excluded from everything.

Now she was flying over the great expanse of buildings that was the city of San Francisco. A trail of green fire was being left in her wake. Her eyes were dry. She felt unable to shed anymore tears.

As she flew over the tall buildings, she heard a commotion from somewhere below. She was inclined to ignore it, but then recalled when Spider-Man had patrolled the streets. He had stopped at every sign of trouble, seeking to put things right. She felt obligated to do just the same.

It would be a distraction from all of the thoughts swirling around in her head.

* * *

**Starfire immediately saw what was the problem. **A horde of angry Slade-bots had trashed a bank, seeking to gain all of the material wealth they could. Ever since Slade's disappearance six months ago, these bots had been running rampant and leaderless. This left the Titans to think Slade was dead, but Robin... Nightwing, she told herself... didn't think so.

She would have dismissed this as Robin's... Nightwing's paranoia, were it not for the fact that Spider-Man also seemed to think he was alive. He had a problem of old villains coming back from the dead, it seemed.

But these criminals were robots. That meant that Starfire could unleash all of her destructive power on them. She smiled savagely.

Three of them instantly disintegrated under the power of her star bolts. The rest turned around, looking up. Realizing the danger, they all ran for cover.

One of them, Starfire was alarmed to note, was a Slade Android. He looked, moved, and talked just like their old enemy. But unlike him, the android could be destroyed.

"Ah, Princess Starfire," the familiar voiced intoned. "I'm pleasantly surprised to see you."

Star unleashed green energy across the spectrum of battle. Even if it was only an android, it still had Slade's mental imprint. It was almost every bit as deadly as the man himself.

Almost.

"There has been much death at your hands!" Starfire yelled, charging him. "I will make sure no one else suffers!"

"Excellent," the android said. "You're angry. This will be enjoyable."

"Yes it will!" she hissed through gritted teeth.

The android leapt out of the way right as she was about to collide. She turned, expecting this, and tried to blast him in mid leap. But the android hadn't leapt out of the way. It had leapt to attack her.

She found herself pinned by the android's surprising strength. But she had hidden strength of her own.

Starfire forced the android up into the air, attempting to isolate it among the clouds. But other Slade bots were leaping on her, crowding her and holding her. She felt pain as they began to land blows. She tried to unleash a wave of energy, but she could not direct her hands.

She suddenly became afraid that she was going to be defeated. And defeat at the hands of such as these surely meant death...

As she thought this, her load of Slade bots became lighter. Soon she found that one by one, they were being ripped away from her. Finally, it was only the android and her savior.

"Interesting," said the android. "And who might you be?"

Her savior was a stranger to her, and apparently, to the android. He was tall, clad in simple jeans and a black jacket. Underneath the jacket he was wearing a simple grey body suit. His face was handsome, of what she could see of it, for he wore a mask like Robin's... Nightwing's... that covered his eyes. Except it wasn't black. It was blood-red. Long black hair fell into his face.

He grinned, showing perfect white teeth.

"Clearly your memory banks don't go back that far," the young man answered, in a voice that was deep and a little raspy. "Otherwise you'd remember me... and run away."

"I never run," the Slade-Android spat. Starfire was startled by how much of Slade's personality it contained. "And if you are here, concerned for the girl, I can tell you won't be much of a challenge."

"Oh yeah?" the young man asked, pulling out a large grey firearm. "How much you wanna bet?"

Without another word, he fired the gun. Starfire winced at the loud snap of the air, but was more astonished when the android was hit. It sparked and hissed. The young human had hit it dead center of the forehead.

Sparks flying, the android fell to its knees, and then clattered forward. Starfire stared at it. Then she turned her attention to the young man, who was holding out her hand for her.

"You all right?" he asked her. She nodded, taking his hand and letting him pull her to her feet.

"I thank you," she said, truly grateful. "But who are you? And how did you know Slade?"

"Long time back," the man answered. "I had an encounter with him. He beat me then. I was hoping to intimidate this droid, but I guess he wasn't as hard to beat as his master."

"Indeed," Starfire agreed. "But again, I must ask... who are you? You seem... familiar."

"Do I?" the young man laughed. "Well, we can have plenty of opportunities to get to know each other better."

He held out his hand again, this time to shake hers.

"My name's Red Hood," he said, smiling roguishly. "But please, call me Jason."

* * *

And as before, cartoon Starfire and Teen Titans, Dark Knight Batman characters... Jensen Ackles as Jason Todd. And not just the cartoon version(although this Jason is still a teen). The actual actor playing him in real life. That's who. He could do it. I've watched Supernatural.


	2. Beast Boy

Second tale, a chapter in Beast Boy's life!

**Chapter II**

**Beast Boy**

Beast Boy, or rather Garfield Logan, stood waiting anxiously outside of SF High School, waiting for a certain blond girl to come out.

Her name was Tara Markov. But to Beast Boy she would always be Terra.

He was dressed in normal clothes. He had adopted this habit whenever he hung out with her. He would wait till she was done with school, and then they would go get some pizza or something.

It had become normal and random. He never knew which day he would get to hang out with her. Sometimes she would call him, other times he would surprise her. He acted completely cool around her, being a good friend.

She never saw the internal pain that he always felt, but that was brought to the surface every time he saw her.

A bell rang in the distance. He knew this signaled the end of her classes for the day. He turned his gaze to the large gate, waiting...

She came out with a few of her friends, dressed in her school uniform, a skirt, white shirt, and tie.

She saw Gar and waved. He waved back, hitching a smile that had not been there before on his face.

"Hey, Gar," she said, leaving her friends and walking over to him as the door opened.

"Hi, Tara," he greeted her, fighting back the reflexive "Terra" that had almost escaped him. "How was school?"

"Ugh, same old, same old," she answered, smiling wearily. "You're so lucky you don't have to go to high school. You get to be with your friends all of the time."

"Not all of the time," he said softly. They stood there for a while, awkward silence descending. Finally she spoke.

"So, do you want to go grab a hamburger or something?" she asked him. "I'll buy."

"No, actually," Gar said. "I was thinking we could go see that new movie that came out. 'Avengers,' I think it's called."

"Okay," she said cheerfully. He smiled as well, uplifted by her smile.

* * *

** The movie was pretty good. **Gar and Tara laughed at Tony Stark's antics, felt swells of pride and patriotism by Captain America, felt sorry over Phil Coulson's death. Tara buried her face in Gar's shoulder when Iron Man sacrificed himself for the rest of the team.

All of this went through Gar's mind. The only thing he registered was that Terra didn't recognize him.

Eighteen months had passed since their first meeting when she had said she didn't know who he was. A full year and a half... he felt like it was eternity.

His friendship with Tara had come about because he simply had to see Terra on a consistent basis, unwilling to forget about her now he knew she was alive. So he had accepted that she was now Tara Markov, the daughter of one of the wealthy industrialists of San Francisco who sent her to an expensive high school. When she was acting normal, she was exactly like Terra used to be; laughing, smiling, always ready with a quip. But obviously something had caused her memory to go away.

Was it due to a memory wipe? Or maybe the Slade Android had been right... she had forgotten simply because she had wanted to forget?

And if that was the case... had she wanted to forget Beast Boy?

He had loved her. He had believed that love had been reciprocated. If only... if only he had tried harder. That first time she had run away. He should have run after her, tried to convince her better that he hadn't told the others her secret.

All of it was pointless. And it was made all the more unfair when Raven and Spider-Man started dating.

Raven... _Raven!_... found happiness in love where he had not. He couldn't help feeling like it was some mass conspiracy. Robin, who called himself Nightwing now, had broken up with Starfire. Cyborg was still single, though this was more out of choice.

Maybe it was connected with Spider-Man coming to this universe. But no... his problems with Terra had begun long before Spider-Man arrived. It was unfair to blame him for his issues.

When the movie had ended, and the heroes were faced with a new threat, Gar and Tara left the theater. They talked about it for a while, walking along the street. They laughed at certain parts, recreating the best parts of the movie.

Finally they reached the end of the street before it turned off. Tara stood there for a moment.

"Well, guess this is it," she said simply. "I'll see you later."

"Okay," Beast Boy said, waving. "Bye."

Mr. Markov had said flat out that he didn't want "no green skinned sonova-," to court his daughter. He had forbidden Tara from seeing Beast Boy, but she had anyway.

Beast Boy kept thinking that he somehow had something to do with Terra's memory. But she had made him swear not to talk to her father. He had agreed.

He never stopped thinking for one moment that that might have been a mistake.

Turning himself into a bird, he flew toward Titans' Tower. It was getting dark, and he felt suddenly very tired.

How he wished he could bring her memory back...

* * *

Poor Beast Boy! Will he ever get Terra back? Stick around to find out!

**NEXT: **Cyborg!


	3. Cyborg

****Tales of Cyborg, etc. etc... hooray, everybody.

**Chapter III**

**Cyborg**

Cyborg strained against the heavy load he was benching.

It was a several hundred ton weight, designed to push him to his very limits... and beyond. He was testing out a new system, one which would revolutionize his cybernetic body.

As sweat poured down his face, he pushed as hard as he could. He wasn't content with merely holding the weights up. He wanted to push it back.

As he reached the peak of his power, his com beeped.

"Mutha'-," he gasped, loosing some of his leverage. He blinked, bringing his new HUD in his bionic eye up. A simple reset later and the weights retracted into the wall. He leaned on his knees, gasping and panting. His com still beeped.

"I'm coming," he heaved. "I'm coming."

He took a deep breath, and pulled out his com.

"Yeah?" he asked shortly. He was expecting Beast Boy or Spider-Man, maybe Nightwing to tell him that there was trouble.

What he hadn't expected was Hal Jordan, Green Lantern.

_"Cyborg?" _he said. _"It's the Justice League, making good on its promise to call on you when we need backup. Well, we need backup. Can you get to these coordinates?"_

"Wha...?" Cyborg panted, stunned. "Uh, yeah, yeah... sure."

_"Patching coordinates to you now," _Green Lantern said. _"Don't dawdle."_

* * *

**When Cyborg arrived in the middle of Los Angeles, he could tell Green Lantern hadn't been joking. **The Justice League was engaged in a full out battle with some massive red monster. Its roar almost deafened Cyborg, and he felt static in his body.

"Yo!" he yelled. "What are you... Godzilla's nephew?"

It spat a glob of red plasma at him. He dove out of the way.

"Whoa!" he ejaculated. "This thing means business!"

"Cyborg!" yelled Wonder Woman. "Regroup on me!"

"You got it!" He got to his feet, making his way towards her. So were the others. The red monster began to lumber its way to North Hollywood.

"What is that thing?" was Cyborg's first words when he arrived. Superman was covered in the gooey red plasma, although Cyborg knew it would burn his skin off if he was human.

"Some kinda alien," Green Lantern answered. "It arrived from a distant planet. I think it used to be a pet..."

"Feed it too much kibbles?" Aquaman asked sardonically. Cyborg agreed.

"I think its some distant warlord's execution animal," Superman explained. "Of course, this is pure conjecture..."

"Well, how do we stop it?" Cyborg asked.

"Good question," Flash said. "I have no clue. Supes and I both used super speedy attacks. No good."

"And we can't bring it down by brute strength," Wonder Woman said. "All of my Amazon power did not avail me."

"The powerful force of the waves cannot be accessed here," Aquaman lamented. "There would be too much destruction."

They all fell silent, contemplating the problem before them. Cyborg noticed a certain gadget on Batman's belt.

"Hey, is that a power conduit?" he asked, pointing at it. Batman nodded. A light bulb went off in Cyborg's head.

"I've got an idea," he said. "Superman, is that pure plasma?"

"Yes, it is," Superman told him.

"Great," Cyborg said, rubbing his hands together. "I've got a plan..."

* * *

**"This had better work," Aquaman said tersely.**

"It will," Cyborg assured him, though secretly he hoped he was right. It was one thing coming up with a plan among the Teen Titans. If he screwed up, one of the others would pick up the slack and no one would be worse off. But now Cyborg was playing with the big boys, and he felt like this was some kind of test. He knew there were some of them that doubted him, despite being a new teammate. He could not afford to let them down.

The monster hadn't been hard to follow. The wake of destruction was direction enough. He was making his way to the Pixar Studios, ripping through the buildings and highways.

"You know, this begs the question of how he got here?" Flash pointed out. Cyborg shrugged.

"Don't know," he said. "Don't care. We got to get him out off this planet."

"Yes _sir!_" Green Lantern said, flipping him a mock salute. Cyborg went red, thinking he had gone too far, but Lantern winked to show he was joking.

"On my mark," Cyborg said, fixing Batman's circuit breaker to his wrist. He raised it to shoulder height. He was desperately focusing on not saying _Titans, go!_

"Wonder Woman," he said simply, and she flew off, throwing a large chunk of debris at the monster's shoulder. It merely bounced off, but it got its attention. It roared again.

"Justice League," Cyborg yelled. "GO!"

Superman and Green Lantern took off, flying around the monster, inflicting small blows on it before flying off again. Wonder Woman joined them, while the Flash ran around the red monster's calves, cutting into them with his fast-moving arm. Aquaman blinded it with sewage water from below, and Batman swung by on his grappling hook, tossing Batarangs with deadly accuracy.

In the infinitesimal second before Cyborg fired, he suddenly remembered one thing.

_Bruce Wayne is dead._

The memory of Dick's adventure in Gotham raised itself in his mind. This Batman wasn't Bruce Wayne. Nightwing had said that there was a new Batman. Who was he?

But then the red monster began to glow, bringing more of its red plasma to the forefront of Cyborg's attention. He remembered what he was supposed to do.

The plasma was stored up energy. When the monster shot the plasma at things, it tapped into its energy supply. With this shot, Cyborg would overload it with power, hopefully blowing it up or knocking it out of commission.

Of course, it could also just super charge the monster and he would become unbeatable. But they really didn't have other options.

As the monster glowed with its energy, Cyborg fired.

The blast of blue power left Cyborg's arm with a loud _skreeee_. As it raced to the monster, Cyborg knew that it was going to work.

"It's gonna blow!" he bellowed. Superman and Wonder Woman understood, and they grabbed the others and pulled them out of harm's way.

The energy bolt hit the monster.

Cyborg's eyes were blinded as a massive white light filled the air. He felt, rather than heard the scream that followed. It was unbelievable...

As it went on, he realized that his systems were absorbing the energy that hit him, raising his metabolic rate and other live support systems. If he survived this, he would be almost invulnerable.

He did survive. It ended with a loud _whoosh._

The Justice League of America stood there, dazed by what they had just seen. The monster was nowhere to be seen, vaporized by its own power.

"That was anticlimactic," Green Lantern said at last, and when the others stared at him, he said, "I was joking."

"That was incredible, that's what it was," Flash said, clapping Cyborg on the back. "Way to go, rookie!"

The others congratulated him as well. He felt a swell of pride in his chest, a stupid grin on his face.

"Hey, where'd Bats go?" Aquaman suddenly noticed. Cyborg's suspicions came back quickly. Batman was gone.

_Figgers. He's know I knew he wasn't the real guy._

_ Should I tell the League? Ah, that'd give away Wayne's identity, even if he is dead. He didn't want the League to know. I'll respect his wishes._

He would have to find out for himself who this new Batman was...

* * *

**NEXT: **Nightwing!


	4. Nightwing

****(snore... wheeze... snore... wheeze...) Uh, oh, hi. Nightwing, everybody. Yay.

**Chapter IV**

**Nightwing**

It was quiet in the streets of San Francisco. Almost... _too _quiet.

And thus Nightwing began to think in terms of cheesy movies. Again.

He was hunched over a gargoyle perched atop a buttress of the SF Performing Arts Theater. It would seem like he was observing the streets below, monitoring from on high.

In reality, a fierce mental battle was engaging in his mind.

You love her. Bite the bullet and tell her you're sorry.

_How can I? How good a boyfriend can I be? I let Batman die, for God's sakes. I'm still trying to focus beyond that._

Batman has emotionally crippled you... Robin.

_That's not who I am. I am Nightwing._

Keep telling yourself that, sport. But you will always be that little boy whom Bruce Wayne saved from the fire. You will never be free of it, even now that he is dead.

_No... stop thinking that. Stop it. Get in control._

The truth was, he wasn't even sure he could be Nightwing now. He felt like he was trapped in between a rock and a hard place, a trap of his making. He could never have imagined this happening to him before.

_Where's a good villain to beat up when you need one?_

As if in answer to his silent plea, an explosion ripped through the distance. He looked up, seeing a cloud of smoke and flame rise up.

_Wonderful._

* * *

**When he arrived at the scene, it was total chaos.**

People were running left and right, screaming. A man with a massive flamethrower taped to his back was burning down things all over, blasting heat indiscriminately. He was laughing while he was doing so.

"Let me guess," Nightwing said, standing his ground. "Your mother never told you not to play with matches."

"Screw you!" screamed the man. He was wearing a gas mask. Other than that, he had no clear costume, just generic clothing. Nightwing sighed.

"Figures," he said, leaping into action.

The flame burst almost caught him on the first try. He arced his body, missing it by just an inch. He felt the heat through his suit.

"Ooh, burn," he said, kicking the dude in the face. He fell backward, but didn't collapse. Nightwing wanted to have some fun with him.

"I am gonna rip your-," Flame guy spluttered.

"If you're not going to try for the witty quip," Nightwing said, flipping over him, "just put a sock in it!"

He judo chopped his neck from behind. Flame guy bent over from the force of the blow, but still didn't fall over. This time, Nightwing became worried.

This guy could clearly take a beating. So it was time to shut this down, before it got out of hand.

Of course, that was when it all got out of hand.

Fire flew into the air, scorching the concrete and everything around it. Nightwing ducked, barely avoiding it. He felt his hair singe.

He pulled out his two billy clubs. Swinging them around, he tried to hit the mouth of the flamethrower, trying to shut it off.

It connected. The metal, slightly softer than usual, dented under the force of the blow. The hose of flame stopped immediately.

Flame guy looked at it, confused. Nightwing almost groaned.

"Dude," he said, feeling disappointment. "Seriously?"

He swung the club up, connecting it with his jaw. His head snapped upwards, and at last, he fell to the ground, still.

Nightwing brushed some soot of his shoulders.

"That was sadly easy," he remarked, turning to walk away.

He didn't notice that Flame guy's thumb was still pressed hard on the trigger. The superheated muzzle of the flamethrower was getting brighter and brighter.

Suddenly, it exploded, gushing out white hot flames that incinerated a building opposite. Nightwing turned around. Flame guy was writhing on the ground, burned black, calling weakly for help.

He heard screams from the building and knew there were people inside. Flame guy had caused all of this damage. He could wait.

* * *

**Nightwing landed inside the building, activating his lower mask. **It slid over his mouth and nose, protecting it from smoke.

He looked around, trying to find any civilians. He heard a scream, and followed it. A large flaming beam fell across his path, and he threw up his arms instinctively. A second later, he leapt over the beam, going towards the sound of the scream.

A small child and her mother were crammed into the corner of a room, huddled together. Nightwing went over to them.

"Are you hurt?" he yelled over the roaring flames. "Can you move?"

They nodded assent, fear etched on their faces. He suddenly realized that he must look very forbidding.

"It's gonna be alright," he assured them, and it was. He picked them both up, and started running for the window.

This next part would be tricky. He had to get out of the window and get them safely to the street. He couldn't just leap out of the window however. If he did, the air current would cause the flames to follow him, and the two civilians would undoubtedly be scorched.

He got to the window, noticing it was open. Feeling thankful to some higher being, he started to climb out, telling the two to hold on tight.

As he felt pressure increase around his torso, he lowered himself slowly from the window. It was too far down to drop, and he couldn't get another handhold.

_San Fran's finest, where are you...?_

In response to this thought, a crew of firefighters appeared below them, holding a trampoline.

Nightwing closed his eyes, letting go of the window.

As he did so, something exploded inside the building, causing a torrent of fire to shoot out of the window they were just at.

It took all of Nightwing's will not to immediately use the trampoline as a jump off for higher ground. The three of them landed in a heap, shaken, but otherwise unharmed.

"Thank God," said one of the firefighters. "You one of the Teen Titans?"

"Yeah," Nightwing said, retracting his lower mask. "Nightwing. Formerly Robin."

"You saved my bro's life a few months back," the crew member said solemnly. "You guys are amazing."

"Thanks," Nightwing said, feeling a rush of emotion that he did not immediately identify with as happy. It had been a long time since he smiled.

"There's still people inside!" the fire chief yelled. Nightwing looked up, activating his mask again, ready to save the day.

* * *

**NEXT: **Spider-Man and Raven!

Hey, does anyone have a copy of Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 6(I think)... Venom? If so, please email me Richard Parker's entire spiel about the Venom suit. From the entire book. If you would be so kind. I will credit you for it in my next story. Please.


	5. SpiderMan And Raven

****The final installment of the story! Next will be... **VENOM!** Although I really could use Richard Parker's narrative. If I don't have it, I'll have to make it up.

**Chapter V**

**Spider-Man And Raven**

"Are you serious!?"

"I don't wanna talk about it."

It was a bright, sunny day in San Francisco. A perfect day for a teenage couple to take a walk in the park and enjoy each other's company.

This particular couple, however, happened to be Spider-Man and Raven of Teen Titans fame. And Peter was gawking at the idea of Raven transforming into...

"A rabbit!?" he hooted. "Like, a little bunny rabbit, eats carrots, jumps around..."

"I will use my powers to make you fear rabbits for the rest of your life."

Despite her words, Raven couldn't hide the grin at Peter's laughter. It was so infectious, and she knew he wasn't really making fun of her. He wouldn't... dare.

It felt odd, to be dressed in normal clothes, doing things ordinary people did. Because Raven was far from ordinary. So was Peter, but he had always managed to balance a double life. Raven had never had to, or been able to do that. Her cold demeanor and... odd colorings marked her out instantly as the "witch" of the Teen Titans.

But when she put on jeans and a tee shirt and put a hair-band on, she looked completely different. And she felt completely different.

They ambled slowly along, arm in arm. Never before had Raven felt this happy. But even then...

A shadow dwelt in her mind. And that shadow had a name.

She felt these emotions but she couldn't reveal too much of them. Not that Peter minded, it seemed. He appeared to chalk it up to her never being in a relationship before, which was true, but she also knew that she should be showing more of her feelings than she had been.

"Well, have you ever been transformed?"

"Not really. I mean, there was a spider version of me, with six arms and fur all over his face..."

"Get out."

"No really. He was a clone. It was actually pretty creepy. There was a female clone of me, as well."

"What?" Raven almost stopped cold. The idea of Peter as a girl... no, it was too frightening. He caught the look on her face, and laughed.

"Yeah, that's what I said," he chuckled. His face fell. "There were a lot of the clones. One of them... ah, never mind. It's too nice out."

"No, tell me," Raven prodded. She had seen glimpses of Peter's life through his memories, but he had kept the whole clone saga well under wraps.

He sighed.

"One of them had been aged artificially, and given false memories to think that he was my father."

Raven felt her gut wrench. That was horrible... to meet a man you thought was your father, your dead father, and then discovering that was not the case.

At least Richard Parker had been a good man. Trigon wasn't even a man, certainly not good.

* * *

**The mention of his father made Peter think. **Richard Parker had appeared once in his life that he could remember, and it hadn't even been him. That whole night would be embedded in his mind forever, a memory he could do without. But the bittersweet feelings he got when he remembered hugging the man he thought was his father...

_Gotta snap out of it. Enjoy this day._

Raven had fallen silent, apparently thinking deeps thoughts of her own. They simply enjoyed each other's company, but now Peter was thinking too.

_She's changed, but she's still guarded. It's like she won't let herself really be in love._

_ It's kinda annoying, but I shouldn't push her. She's clearly got issues with her past that can't compare to..._

Well, perhaps that wasn't true. Admittedly, her father was an extra dimensional demon who had destroyed the earth previously. Her heart had been toyed with by an ancient dragon. Other than that...

Peter, on the other hand, had gone through hell and back again all in the course of one year. Spider-Man had been forged by fire and death, his life surrounded by people who tried to kill him. Criminals no longer content with robbing and stealing for personal gain, Spider-Man had built up some solid grudges over the months.

_Months... I wasn't even Spider-Man for a full year before..._

Before he died. He still had problems coming to grips with that. And he couldn't shake the hope that maybe Uncle Ben was alive on this world.

* * *

**Trees lined the path, but Peter and Raven were lying on the grass, staring alternately up into the sky and into each other's eyes. **It was breezy, not too hot... pleasantly warm.

It had been about seven months since they first met. They had been dating for the last of those months, and appeared to make up for lost time.

But while they had each other, Dick had broken up with Star, Gar was still pining after Terra, and Cyborg... well, at least Cyborg was happy.

"So, hear from Daredevil recently?" Raven asked Peter, resting her head on his chest. The steady rise and fall of his lungs were almost hypnotic.

"Yeah, he's settled into Hell's Kitchen very nicely, considering he's never lived there before, or all his life, which ever you want to think," Peter answered. "He's established his law practice again. If you ever need a defense attorney, he's your guy."

"How's your arm?" Raven inquired, rubbing her hand over his skin. He smiled.

"Absolutely fine," he said. "I may not be Wolverine, but I do have an increased metabolic rate."

They lay in silence for a moment, basking in each other's presence. This had been a wonderful day.

So, naturally, Peter couldn't help shake the feeling that it was all going to go to hell in a handbasket... soon.

* * *

**A tall figure watched the two teenagers lying in the grass. **He had a distinguished face, with white hair and goatee, but his face was smooth. An eyepatch covered his right eye, the only feature about him that could be remembered.

He watched the teens for a long time, but they never saw him. If they had, it wouldn't have mattered. The Teen Titans had never seen Slade Wilson without his mask before.

He intended to keep it that way.

Pulling out a com, he felt a strange stab of envy for the two. It bothered him, but then he realized what it was. He envied their happiness.

_So I need to make my own happiness._

"Hood?" he whispered into the com. "Start the wheels turning... we're green light."

* * *

Thank you, and good night.


End file.
